Besides being a fascinating insight into the workings of the wonderfully quirky British House of Lords, this transcript shows that Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, Lord Hamilton of Epsom, and Lord Lea of Crondall are all terribly vexed over the selection of the next World Bank president. Continue reading →

Spotted in Private Eye, the uncanny likeness between former head of the World Bank Paul Wolfowitz and number-loving puppet Count von Count from Sesame Street.

Lest the Europeans forget the statement they made at the IMFC meeting just a month ago: “EU member states are ready to engage in a discussion of the appropriate selection criteria and processes for the senior management in all IFIs.” I may be wrong about this, but I don’t think in most people’s books ‘appropriate’ equals ‘kowtow to Bush’?

Greenpeace political analyst Daniel Mittler puts forward some credible names that we’re unlikely to hear from the White House.

Columnist Charles Onyango-Obbo, writing in The EastAfrican, concludes that, at least for Africa, his scandal may have been his biggest reform success. Continue reading →